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Science 9 March 1979:
Vol. 203. no. 4384, pp. 1022 - 1025
DOI: 10.1126/science.203.4384.1022
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Articles

Capture Enhancement in a Carnivorous Aquatic Plant: Function of Antennae and Bristles in Utricularia vulgaris

DEWEY G. MEYERS 1 and J. RUDI STRICKLERt 2

1 Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706
2 Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520

Traps of the carnivorous hydrophyte Utricularia vulgaris Linnaeus (Lentibulariaceae) have structures termed antennae and bristles around their trapdoors that increase their rate of entrapment of the substrate-dwelling prey Chydorus sphaericus (Chydoridae, Crustacea). The kind and number of these structures are important in determining capture rate. Experimental data and corresponding behavioral observations support Darwin's hypothesis that antennae and bristles function as a "funnel" leading potential prey toward the trapdoor and their capture by offering the prey a favorable substrate that exploits their natural locomotor and feeding behavior.

Submitted on July 25, 1978
Revised on August 28, 1978


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The carnivorous bladderwort (Utricularia, Lentibulariaceae): a system inflates.
V. A. Albert, R. W. Jobson, T. P. Michael, and D. J. Taylor (2010)
J. Exp. Bot. 61, 5-9
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Energetics and the evolution of carnivorous plants--Darwin's 'most wonderful plants in the world'.
A. M. Ellison and N. J. Gotelli (2009)
J. Exp. Bot. 60, 19-42
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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